Leroy Fearon | Born to teach: When a birthday meets a calling

There are birthdays we celebrate with cake, candles and photographs. Then there are birthdays that invite us to pause and ask a deeper question: What have I done with the life I have been given?

For me, October 5 carries a significance that is difficult to put into words. It is my birthday. It is also World Teachers’ Day. Perhaps that is more than coincidence. Perhaps it is a reminder of the calling that has shaped much of my life: I was born to teach.

Teaching, for me, has never been simply a job. It has been a vocation, a responsibility and, increasingly, a way of serving society. From the classroom to teacher education, from academic leadership to research, writing and public engagement, the common thread has remained education.

On October 5, millions of teachers around the world will be recognised for their contribution to shaping lives and societies. UNESCO notes that World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated since 1994 and commemorates the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. In 2026, the observance takes on special significance as the world marks the 60th anniversary of that landmark recommendation.

The theme could hardly be more timely: ‘Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures’. It speaks to something I have come to understand deeply: if we want better societies, we must take better care of the people entrusted with educating the next generation.

I have often reflected on what it means to be a teacher. A teacher does not merely deliver content. A teacher opens possibilities. A teacher sees potential where a student may see limitation. A teacher challenges complacency, nurtures curiosity and sometimes becomes the first person to convince a young person that his or her dreams are actually possible. This is why teaching cannot be reduced to examination results, lesson plans or contact hours.

Teaching is about human transformation. I have experienced this transformation from different sides of the educational system – as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, lecturer, researcher, academic leader and mentor. Each role has reinforced the same lesson: education is ultimately about people.

The greatest reward is not necessarily the certificate, promotion or award. Sometimes it is seeing a former student become a teacher, leader, researcher or professional and knowing that, in some small way, you contributed to that journey.

That is the quiet power of teaching.

TWO REASONS TO REFLECT

There is something profoundly humbling about sharing a birthday with a day dedicated to teachers. Every year, October 5 gives me two reasons to reflect.

The birthday asks: What have I accomplished?

World Teachers’ Day asks: What have I contributed?

The first is personal. The second is much bigger than me. And perhaps that is the greatest gift of having a birthday on World Teachers’ Day. It continually reminds me that a life should not be measured only by how many years we have lived, but by how many lives we have touched.

My journey in education has taken me through classrooms, institutions, conferences, research projects, publications and leadership responsibilities. I have written, presented, supervised, mentored and taught. I have had the privilege of working with students and educators at different stages of their development.

Yet, despite the titles and responsibilities that may come with an academic career, I remain most comfortable with one simple description: teacher. Because titles can change. Positions can change. Institutions can change.

But the responsibility to educate, inspire and serve does not disappear.

World Teachers’ Day should not become another occasion when we say nice things about teachers for one day and return to business as usual on October 6.

Teachers deserve appreciation, certainly. But they also deserve respect, resources, professional autonomy, opportunities for development and working conditions that allow them to do their jobs well.

UNESCO's 2026 observance explicitly highlights the pressures confronting teachers, including technological change, climate change, inclusion, migration and displacement, while also pointing to concerns about teachers' professional and material status. This matters because we cannot simultaneously demand excellence from teachers while neglecting the conditions under which excellence must be produced.

We cannot tell teachers to innovate without providing the tools to innovate. We cannot demand improved student outcomes while ignoring teacher workload. We cannot tell young people that teaching is one of society's most important professions while allowing the profession to become increasingly unattractive to talented young people. And we cannot speak passionately about the future of education while failing to listen to the people who are closest to the learner. Standing with teachers must therefore mean more than celebrating teachers. It must mean strengthening teaching.

For Jamaica, this conversation is especially important. Our ambitions for economic growth, national development, technological advancement and social transformation will ultimately depend on the quality of our human capital.

And human capital does not emerge by accident. It is developed in classrooms. Behind every engineer, doctor, entrepreneur, scientist, teacher, lawyer, artist, technician, public servant and community leader is a teacher who, at some point, helped shape that person's thinking.

If we want Jamaica to produce more, innovate more and compete more effectively globally, we must invest seriously in the people who prepare Jamaicans for that future. This means strengthening teacher preparation.

It means expanding opportunities for continuous professional development. It means embracing technology and artificial intelligence without losing sight of the human relationship at the centre of teaching. It means giving teachers a meaningful voice in educational decision-making. It means creating environments in which teachers can teach, rather than constantly asking them to compensate for every weakness within the wider system.

And it means restoring something that cannot be legislated but must be cultivated: respect for the teaching profession.

THE PRIVILEGE OF TEACHING

When I look back at my journey, I realise that teaching has followed me through almost every chapter.

Even when the role changed, the purpose remained. Whether standing before a classroom, addressing educators, supervising research, writing an article, participating in a conference or working through an institutional challenge, I have continued to see education as a powerful instrument for changing lives.

That is why I describe myself as someone who was born to teach. Not because teaching has always been easy. Not because educators are always adequately appreciated. Not because every lesson produces an immediate result. But because there is something deeply fulfilling about helping another person understand something they once found difficult, believe in something they once thought impossible, or become something they once did not imagine themselves becoming.

That is the privilege of teaching. And perhaps that is the best birthday gift I could receive: the knowledge that my life's journey continues to intersect with the lives of others through education.

So, as I celebrate another birthday on October 5, I will not simply count the years. I will count the opportunities to serve. The students who entrusted me with their learning. The colleagues who shared the journey. The mentors who challenged and encouraged me. The institutions that provided opportunities to contribute.

The researchers and educators with whom I have collaborated. And the countless teachers who continue to enter classrooms every day, often carrying responsibilities far greater than what appears on their job descriptions. To them, I say: thank you.

And to every teacher reading this: never underestimate the significance of what you do. You may never know the full extent of your influence. The student who seems disengaged today may become tomorrow's leader. The child who struggles today may become tomorrow's innovator. The young person who doubts himself or herself today may one day stand before a room full of people because a teacher once said, “You can do this”.

That is why teaching matters. That is why teachers matter. And that is why, on a day when the world celebrates teachers and I celebrate another year of life, I am reminded that the greatest privilege is not simply to have been born.

It is to have discovered a purpose worth living for. For me, that purpose has always been education. I was not merely born on World Teachers’ Day.

I was born to teach.

- Leroy Fearon Jr, J.P, M.Sc., is a lecturer, multi-disciplinary researcher, author, geography specialist, columnist, Governor General's Achievement Awardee '24 and Governor General I Believe Initiative (IBI) Ambassador '24. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and leroyfearon85@gmail.com. ONLINE ONLY COMMENTARY.